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Mexico City (ANTARA News / Reuters) - Two human rights activists were shot dead in an attack in southern Mexico when they tried to deliver food supplies to a city that was plagued armed groups, authorities said Wednesday.

Beatriz Carino, director of rights group Man Cactus Mexican and human rights monitors Finland Jyri Jaakkola Antero killed when armed men attacked the convoy of about 30 human rights workers, Tuesday, local prosecutors said Maria de Luz Candelaria.

The convoy was on its way to San Juan Copala in the state of Oaxaca, where tensions rose between the cities with a population of indigenous Triqui.

San Juan Copala is trying to form an independent government based on the customary istiadad. But armed groups from nearby towns oppose the plan and decided to supply water and electricity in an attempt to isolate the community.

"The convoy was entering the bad roads in the mountains. There was a barricade of stones, forcing the cars to avoid that road. They attacked and fired automatic weapons," said David Castillo, vice Cactus in Mexico City.

Two journalists from a local magazine who has covered the convoy was lost, said the journalist Ana Lilia Perez, who works in one medium.

Oaxaca, one of the country's poorest states in Mexico are often hit by protests.

In 2006, several people were killed in clashes between police and protestors left the group after disputes between the governor of the state and its opponents who later spread uncontrollably.